Since the dawn of time, man has always been mesmerised with the dark side of nature. The realm of the supernatural, of the unknown, where nefarious and shadowy characters roam has fascinated and terrified society for eons. Rewind to Paris in the 1920s and that same obsession with macabre and sinister was starting to gain…

As previously mentioned on the 4 blog, Rick Owens has returned to his roots and opened his first store in Los Angeles. He has worked with architect Anna Tumaini to design the 450 square meter store which features high ceilings, a fog machine and a floor-to-ceiling tank swimming pool. Rick owens is exclusive to 4. Shop the mens &…

“I am not interested in catwalks at all,” proclaimed Faustine Steinmetz following her much-lauded Spring Summer 2016 London Fashion Week presentation – and she wasn’t the only one making such a statement. In a time where fast fashion is ruling the industry new designers are taking a different approach to their seasonal collections. A new, thoughtful movement has…

Demna Gvasalia, the Georgian designer at the helm of Vetements, has been announced as the new Artistic Director at Balenciaga, taking over from Alexander Wang, who showed his final collection for the French fashion house on Friday during Paris Fashion Week. “I am very pleased to welcome Demna Gvasalia as the artistic director of Balenciaga’s…

After last season’s now legendary show at Le Dépôt, excitement surrounding the Parisian design collective headed up by Demna Gvasalia has rapidly grown. Gvasalia, an alumnus of Maison Martin Margiela, has been referred to as Mr. Margiela’s “spiritual son” and its not hard to see why – the ethos of deconstruct and reconstruct, reorient and reconsider informs Vetements approach…

Rick Owens payed homage to Leigh Bowery, a clear reference to the late Australian’s birthing outfit, at his Paris runway show last week. Beginning innocently enough — for a Rick Owens show, at least — with a model in black underwear plainly visible beneath an open sleeveless coat. Then came the first of many models who…

Some highlights from the first three days of Paris Fashion Week, featuring Each x Other, Yang Li, Aganovich and A.F Vandevorst. Shop the Autumn Winter 15 Each x Other, Aganovich and A.F Vandevorst collections here.

This season we welcome Italian designer Isabel Benenato to 4. Isabel launched her first collection in Milan in 2008. Placing emphasis on minimalism and experimentation, her collections celebrate rich fabrics, tactility and texture and Italian craftsmanship. Working with the themes of Soft-Rough and Narrow-Light the Autumn Winter 2015 collection includes coats, jackets, sweaters, and drop trousers all meticulously handicrafted in the finest fabrics and materials.…

Fashion Month is drawing to a close but with Paris Fashion Week starting today here are some things we’re looking forward to: 1. The Location – Paris comes as a welcome change to the industrialised backdrops of London, New York and Milan. And while the city as a whole is beautiful enough, Paris Fashion Week is…

London designer Lee Broom is presenting his latest collections of furniture and vases against a backdrop of flowers at his Shoreditch showroom. Described by Broom as “an immersive journey through a sea of flowers,” the installation is located at his showroom on Rivington Street for the duration of this year’s London Design Festival. The installation runs until 27th September, 2015. Read the…

The man responsible for slipping building facades and melting houses has unveiled a new surreal sculpture as part of London Design Festival. British artist Alex Chinneck has unveiled A Bullet from a Shooting Star, his latest illusionary work which focuses on the “everyday become extraordinary.” Located on an industrial wasteland at Greenwich Peninsula, the steel sculpture depicts a 35-meter-tall electricity…

During this year’s London Design Festival, visitors to the V&A will be transformed into temporary custodians via Faye Toogood’s new installation, The Cloakroom. Situated in Gallery 55 in the British Galleries, a stylised circular rail will dispense a selection of coats specially designed for this installation in Kvadrat’s Highfield, a high tech compressed foam textile.…

Frida Kahlo’s art and personal style sprang to life on the Spring Summer 2016 runway of OSMAN. Working from a love letter penned by the Mexican artist — “I ask you for violence, in the nonsense, and you, you give me grace, your light and your warmth” — the designer sent out a range of…

Thomas Tait drew on a trio of far-reaching references: midcentury collage, tribal artistry and industrial design. Though a seemingly ill-suited grouping, the result was a concise spring collection that was modern, expertly cut and — for the most part — wearable. A circular motif ran throughout, with Native American symbols in the form of sheer…

Tom Dixon has partnered with Selfridges to open a multi-sensory temporary department store at the Old Selfridges Hotel in London. The Multiplex department store hosts fashion, fragrance, technology, furniture, accessories, beauty and food from a collection of more than 30 international brands and designers. Tom Dixon’s machine component-shaped Cog lights and reflective Brew coffee sets are also among the collection of products on display. Dixon described…

Skimpy tank shapes and racer-backs gave an athletic cast to David Koma’s Spring collection, as always hinged on body-con, leggy dresses and second-skin jumpsuits. The designer, who is also creative director at Mugler in Paris, is obsessive about defining the waist: here demarcated with ruffle-edged, zipper-streaked corsets or lashed with bandage-like strips. Executed mainly in…

Donatella Versace laid out a gleaming white runway for the London launch of Versus Versace on Saturday night at London Fashion Week. It was a dramatic backdrop for the mostly black collection by creative director Anthony Vaccarello, who drew on the hallmarks of the Italian house’s glory days in the early Nineties. Here was an idealized, polished…

Set in London Fashion Week’s new home in Brewer Street car park, Gareth Pugh’s Spring show was an ode to Soho nightlife and the wild creatures of the night that prowled the scene before rapid gentrification began reconfiguring the neighbourhood. Working only with red, white and black — and real copper coins made into a kind…

London Fashion Week is celebrating its move into Soho, with a short film dedicated to the “richness and diversity of the fabulous square mile”. Created by BBH, the ‘Ode to Soho’ features a poem written and performed by World Poetry Slam Champion, Harry Baker. In one part, he voices: “A place of history, disbelief and…